Feeding Update

I pulled out this oldie but goodie today because in all of the challenges we have faced so far with Colin having DS, the BIGGEST one has been the feeding issues.  I can't tell you how lucky we are to have avoided some of the major medical issues associated with children with DS, but since the day he was born, have struggled in some way with getting Colin to eat.  As a newborn, he had to stay *just* an extra night in the hospital because he wasn't eating well and I basically begged the pediatrician to let us leave the next day because I wanted to go home and "be normal" as quickly as possible.  

I have described our struggles on here many times, and have recently resurfaced the evaluation and therapy route to tackle this once again after a hiatus for about a year.  We feel ready to approach this again and hope that even if it takes a long time, we start to see some progress.  

We have currently been attending a new rehab facility for this associated with the endocrinologist and gastroenterologists that we have been seeing regularly.  The evaluation was really informative and we felt as though we were headed in the right track after meeting with Miss Josie. After a good amount of time waiting for an appointment to open up and approvals to go through insurance, we had our first therapy appointment today and felt really satisfied with how it went.  I left feeling very optimistic and think that with Miss Josie we just may see some progress in the right direction.  

She had a very loose approach today just to get Colin comfortable with her and used a very powerful technique...technology (games on her iphone)!  After talking for a bit and seeing that Colin was warming up very quickly, we were able to sneak out without him making a peep.  She worked today just by adding a bit of texture to his yogurt (very finely crushed up graham cracker) and just trying to get him to visually tolerate goldfish near him while they worked on other things.  

One of the things that she said has resonated with me and am looking forward to seeing her put this approach in action (which we of course follow through with)..."I am going to push him, but not force him".  

We have goals for the week and then will meet again next week.  Looking forward to seeing progress!